


Chance Encounter: Connections Series Vignette #1

by ixchel55



Series: Connections [1]
Category: Fast and the Furious (2001), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-07
Updated: 2011-03-07
Packaged: 2017-10-16 04:06:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ixchel55/pseuds/ixchel55
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in 1997, approximately 4 years before the original movie. Late at night Dom gets restless and goes out for a drive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chance Encounter: Connections Series Vignette #1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of a series of fics that progresses through the original movie in the form of deleted and/or expanded scenes and in some cases back story. These stories were started in 2004 and then sidelined. The whole series isn't complete (and might never be) but each story can stand alone as a separate story. The majority of the stories and the ultimate aim of the series will be Dom/Brian.

He was just so fucking restless.

He had that itch again. The one that Letty couldn't help him scratch. He twisted and turned sleeplessly, gently fending off Letty's sleeping encroachments on his side of the bed until he was pushed, literally and figuratively, to the edge. When he couldn't stand the smothering closeness and his own frustrated, chaotic thoughts any longer, he silently left the house.

From many years of experience Dom knew where all the creaky stair trends were and exactly how far he could open the door without the muted screetch making itself heard. Dom refused to think of it as sneaking out of his own house. If confronted tomorrow he'd readily admit to this little late night jaunt. If pushed, he even acknowledge the purpose. But Letty wouldn't ask. She didn't want to know.

He loved Letty. Of course he loved Letty. He had since she was sixteen. Well, maybe not right away, that had been pure lust. But over the years it had grown. He loved making love with her. He loved the feel of her firm, soft flesh and the taste of her was enough to put him into a frenzy sometimes. But every once in awhile, it just wasn't enough. They'd been together for a long time now. At least longer than he'd ever been with anyone else. Maybe this was like the...whaddya call it?...the seven year itch. Maybe that was it.

But it had only been three years.

Dom was pretty sure that Letty knew the score. They'd never really talked about it in so many words, but Letty was sharp. Very little passed her under her radar. As long as Dom was discreet she wasn't going to make his life miserable. Dom was pretty sure if the tables were reversed, he wouldn't show nearly the tolerance that Letty did. She had her own reasons.

They dealt, though. Letty became harsher and sharper. What sweetness she had to temper her heat faded to the background and she became pure sarcastic bitch and Dom cut her the slack she deserved. Partly from guilt and partly from a sense of fair play.

After these little episodes she became totally intolerant of any of his flirting around, no matter how innocent. Her actions in bed became fierce and aggressive, usually marking him in some way; blood bruises, sucked with the intensity of a vampire to the skin's surface and scratches like bedding a wild animal, being the most common. Not that those nights weren't incredible in their own way. What he and Letty shared in bed became more intense than ever, even if things were sometimes strained to the snapping point outside of it.

It was almost two hours into Wednesday and here he was, prowling through the night looking for something that could get him in trouble on so many different levels. The bars were closed, and even most of the diehard stragglers had cleared out for home. Dom resigned himself to allowing the night and the engine's growl to take the edge off before heading back home to the remainder of his sleepless night. Cruising down Temple, the traffic thin, he felt a sense of freedom. Freedom from the responsibilities of being 'Toretto'.

Right now, alone, no house or store with their mortgages to worry over, no Mia or Letty, no Jesse or Vince, all looking to him for direction, this was freedom. Just the cool of the night air pouring through the open windows of the car and the anonymity of the dark.

Dom didn't often allow himself to grow morose and self-pitying about the responsibilities he'd inherited shortly after being released from prison. He had enough of his father in him to even feel a kind of pride in the weight of the burdens that he held up. But he missed his father. God, how he missed him, almost every single day. That ache had never really left. Big Nick Toretto had been more than his father, he'd been his best friend, too. And his mother, Dom knew that she'd had to struggle to hold out against the cancer until he was home again. It had hurt to see that strong woman so wasted and fragile.

When she was gone, Dom had suddenly felt the full weight of two mortgages and a sister that he'd had to fight to keep. The courts weren't that keen on handing over the welfare and raising of a fifteen year old girl to a twenty-four year old ex-con. He'd lost her for a short time, but in the end he'd prevailed. A full time job running the store, then moonlighting as a mechanic didn't leave much time for a personal life, but things had eased up slightly when he'd learned he could make some real money racing. His 'type A' personality didn't take well to losing anyway, but with so much at stake he made a ferocious competitor to back up his skills.

Dom almost had enough saved up to start his own garage, and now that Jesse had finally given up on school, he wanted to work for Dom full-time. Even though he was just a kid, Jesse'd be a great asset in the garage. The kid was a freaking genius when it came to anything with an engine. Outside of the garage, he was just one more needy person to mix into the responsibilities that Dom had to juggle. But what could he do? The quirky, awkward kid had managed to worm his way under Dom's skin and into his affections. Mia already loved him like another brother. Jesse was just one more chick for her nest.

Then there was Vince. They'd been best friends since grade school. His father being the alcoholic, abusive bastard that he was, Vince had practically lived in the Toretto house. During the afternoon, Vince was his mom's boy, doing chores, eating an early dinner, just being with her. Come time for his father to come home and Vince would more times than not, appear at Dom's house and not go home again until it was time for bed.

Once a month, like clockwork, Vince had arrived at the prison to visit, with Mia in tow. He'd never missed once, not in two years. Not even when that fucking, abusive bastard that called himself Vince's father had finally gotten his brains kicked out in a bar fight. Vince had told everyone that he couldn't attend the funeral because he had a prior engagement, and no one blamed him for being absent. Vince would walk butt-naked and drenched in gasoline through hell for Dom and Mia, and now Jesse and Letty, but it was just that impulsiveness that Dom had to constantly curtail. A volatile temperament coupled with no tact and a less-than-sharp intellect left Vince with few choices when it came to jobs. Right now he was a bouncer in a less-than-savory establishment. Dom had to get him out of there before he wound up with a knife in his gut or a bullet in his thick head.

Stopping at a red light, Dom let the vibration and rumble of the Challenger both arouse and soothe him. The vibration of the big machine always had the ability to make him hard if he let himself go, and the rumble of the engine stroked his jangled nerves. It was like the deep purr of a big cat, always happy to see him, but ready to maul at the slightest sign of inattention and carelessness. The personal edge of danger had its own pacifying qualities. He thought with longing of the Challenger's big brother, tucked away in the garage behind the house. Bigger risks, bigger rewards. Or losses.

Maybe some day.

It was the deep, echoing rumble of another engine that clued Dom into the arrival of another car before glancing to his right. A Barracuda. A 1970 HemiCuda convertible, black velvet with matching trim in pristine condition, to be exact. Dom listened closely and guessed it ran a 426 cubic inch/425 horsepower engine. Beauty and the beast all in one package. Nice.

Then Dom raised his eyes to the driver. Very nice.

Dark eyes set in a lean, angular face finished perusing Dom's car before rising up to take in the face of its owner. The man had short, dark hair brushed straight back over a high forehead, and the beginnings of a beard did nothing to obscure the strong line of his jaw. He lightly worked at the toothpick in the corner of his mouth as he inspected Dom in turn.

As their eyes met and held, Dom decided at once that he liked the spark of humor he saw there. He was a good looking man in a wholly masculine way and Dom felt a connection, the tug of attraction. The Barracuda's driver tilted his head and gave a tiny, almost invisible nod. He obviously felt it, too.

The look and the acknowledgement could have meant anything from 'How's it going?' to 'Nice car,' to the casual bystander, but to someone like Dom, who'd been here enough times before, it was an acceptance. Dom's own nod in response was equally cryptic, but when he pulled away from the intersection, the Barracuda fell in behind him.

There was a growing excitement. The risk of danger was very real. Anything could happen once they were away from the prying eyes of the few people still out and around at this time of the morning. But Dom had realized long ago, that that was part of the allure for him. The part of him that was an adrenaline junkie got off on just that possibility.

After several blocks, Dom took a left on Alvarado. The automatic impulse to continue on to Edgeware before turning, and follow that path home, had to be strongly overridden. Dom's mind flashed on an image of Letty, asleep in their bed, but he shut it down and quashed the tiny thread of guilt before it could wiggle its way into him.

Some part of his life had to be just for him.

A few more blocks and then a right on Scott Avenue. Now that they were farther away from the brighter lights of the main streets, Dom found himself checking the mirror again and again. When they passed beneath the street lights, for a split second each time, he could make out the dark outline of the driver that followed him. When Dom finally turned left on Elysian Park Drive, he felt the slow build of excitement accelerate. This area had become a familiar night time haunt in the last year or so.

When his favorite parking place grew near, the unmistakable scent of eucalyptus mingling with pine and dozens of other trees, sent a surge of lust through him, like popping the clutch on a revved up car. They were near the Chavez Ravine Arboretum with its mix of trees from all over the world, and the smell of the place was now firmly embedded in his psyche, side by side with sexual arousal.

Pulling up opposite the small parking area, Dom quickly threw the car into reverse and backed into place. After a moment's hesitation, the Barracuda pulled around him and into place parallel to the Challenger's driver's side. The other man had left about three feet of space between the cars. Perfect.

Dom quickly disabled the dome light and got out of the car. From the angle of the moon, he stood fully in the light and the driver of the Barracuda sat in complete shadow, but Dom could feel the other man's eyes on him. That was fair. The spot was secluded and of Dom's choosing, it could have been a trap. But after a moment, the stranger got out.

They stood opposite one another in the neutral territory between their two cars. The man was a little shorter than himself, probably 5'9" or 5'10" to Dom's six feet. He was compactly muscled in the way of an active, physically fit man who doesn't usually bother with weight lifting. He wore baggy pants in a dark olive color and a black shirt, tails hanging out and short sleeves rolled up even shorter. Dom could make out a tattoo peeking from beneath the sleeve on his right arm. Hitching up his low slung pants slightly, the man plucked the toothpick from his mouth and tossed it away.

Moving slowly to keep the other man off the defensive, Dom took a step closer and raised his hands until he could lay the palms flat on the man's upper chest. He held them there for a moment, feeling the firm flesh beneath his hands and letting the heat of the skin beneath the shirt soak through. Then he skimmed them down until they cupped the man's ribcage and gently pushed until he leaned back against the 'Cuda with Dom pressing lightly against him.

Dom backed away slightly and began to unbutton the black shirt while hands rose and began to stroke the hard bulges of Dom's upper arms. They were always drawn to the muscles. He began working out to build up his body to protect himself from advances in Lompoc, not to garner them. The attention they got now...that was just a plus. Finishing with the buttons, Dom parted the open shirt front and slid it over sleekly muscled shoulders until it hung behind the man from his elbows.

When Dom leaned his head in closer, the other man stiffened slightly. But Dom didn't want kisses any more than the stranger. That was too...intimate, for this kind of encounter. Instead, Dom lowered his face into the curve of the man's shoulder. He wanted the completely masculine smell of the man's body to mingle with the strangely seductive scent of the surrounding trees.

At the same time, Dom slid his right hand down from the firm chest, over the flat abdomen, to cup the significant bulge hiding behind the baggy crotch of the pants. Inhaling loudly, the smaller man clutched the hard muscles of Dom's arms more tightly and let his head fall back, allowing Dom the access to his throat that he wanted. A bold and rather trusting move for anyone to allow a stranger. It either spoke of carelessness and stupidity, or an ability to take care of himself. And he didn't seem like the stupid type. Dom responded by breathing deeply into his lungs the scent of clean sweat and the musk of masculine flesh.

Dom's hand moved up slightly and flipped open the catch at the waistband of the pants, but before he could lower the zipper, the other man pushed him slowly away and stood up straight. Grasping the hem of Dom's tee shirt, he tugged upward until Dom took the hint and pulled it off himself, half turning to toss it across the roof of the Challenger. Then, in an economy of movement, he slid the zipper of the baggy olive drab pants down, and grasped the hard length he found inside.

Dom's sigh of contentment mingled with the other man's groan of pleasure. This was part of what he sought; this silky-hard length of flesh, hot and willing and straining in his hand.

Now it was the other man who leaned forward. With strong fingers he massaged and stroked the firm mass of Dom's shoulders and upper arms, leaning forward to swipe his tongue across the lightly sweating skin of Dom's upper chest. But it didn't take long for the man's hands to make their way south and unfasten Dom's pants, bringing his hard cock out into the relative cool of the night air.

This was the other part of what Dom craved...the sweet, rough-edged glide of a calloused hand on his cock; to feel the easy strength behind the clasp of fingers and the firm stroke. It all mingled together to make encounters like these a craving. The feel, the sight, the smell, the edge of danger, everything was necessary and desired.

The dark of the night lent a kind of intimacy to the setting. The surrounding trees and hills nearly blocked the constant hum of the Hollywood Freeway to the north, and the sounds of nature were actually allowed to filter through to the senses. The chirrup of crickets, the distant yip and howl of a coyote, and the indistinct rustling of hidden night creatures all competed with the harshly released breath, the sigh and the occasional groan of sexual desire.

The hand on his cock, slicked by his own pre-come, moved with increasing urgency as the other man neared his own release. Dom could feel him. The man's body was tightly held and he was shuddering almost convulsively, gasping pants escaping from his mouth. Dom knew that he was the same. Lowering his face back into the lightly sweating curve of the man's neck, Dom delved with his left hand up under the loose hanging shirt. The sleek, warm flesh of the man's back felt good beneath Dom's hand and it added another layer to the sensations.

Dom could feel the precipice looming near and he longed to throw himself over into oblivion, if only for a few moments. In these small snatches of gratification he found sanity and freedom. Something that was just his own, that he didn't owe to anyone else but an anonymous body that didn't know who he was, and didn't care. To the other man, he was just a body, too, not a leader or protector. Someone he would never see again.

Suddenly the stranger stiffened and pressed his face to the sweat-slick skin of Dom's shoulder. With a low grunt and a thrusting of his hips, he released himself into Dom's hand, the hot, thick fluid splashing onto both of their bare bellies. That was all that it took to nudge Dom over the edge. He bucked upward into the tight clutch of the rough palm and bit lightly into the curve of the man's shoulder. It was all he could do not to sink his teeth in to the bone.

Then he was falling. Launched into pleasure at a running pace.

In its own way, this was a quarter mile. The duration was nothing; a flash, a moment in time, but the in-between became drawn out, every detail crystalline and suspended, like he was moving out of time, in slow motion.

Dom knew objectively that the physical pleasure wasn't any more intense than what he experienced with Letty, in some ways it was less, but it was his.

When he opened his eyes, Dom was leaning back against the Challenger, the stranger lying lightly against him. Dom sighed loudly in satisfaction, and after a moment the other man braced one hand, (Dom was thankful to see that it wasn't the hand covered in his own spunk) against the Challenger and pushed himself away. Then Dom straightened and reached through the open back window of the car and pulled out a couple of old, clean shop rags. He offered one to the other man and they cleaned themselves up in the same way the entire encounter had been done. In silence.

Tossing the rags into a nearby trash can, they began to pull themselves together, tucking in sensitive but spent flesh and refastening pants. Dom pulled his tee shirt on while the other man pulled up and buttoned his own shirt. With a last look and a nod, they both got into their cars.

Before engines were cranked to life, the other man leaned out of his car window and called across.

"Hey!"

Dom turned to look at him.

"Nice ride," he commented slyly. Dom couldn't see his eyes, but he could hear the amusement in his voice. It had a rasp to it, like someone had taken sandpaper lightly to his vocal cords. It was a pleasing sound.

Dom stared back for a moment before allowing a small smile to tilt his lips.

"Yeah. You, too."

 ****

"I don't like it, Dom! We don't know this guy."

"Vince," Dom's voice held slowly eroding patience, "you've heard Jesse talk about Leon for two years now. They grew up next door to one another. They've been friends for years, for Christ's sake. Hell, to hear Jesse talk, they were almost brothers. After Jesse's dad was sent up and Leon's mom took a powder, the other two were pretty tight for awhile. To Jesse, he's family. Until this Leon proves himself untrustworthy, that's plenty good enough for me. Besides, what's he gonna do, make off with the silver?" Dom turned his back on Vince and brushed another coating of sauce on the fragrant chicken.

"What if he messes with Mia?" Vince muttered sullenly.

Dom answered without turning around. "If Mia doesn't like it, she'll singe his ears off and _if_ she asks, I'll kick his ass. But I think you're being just a little paranoid, Vince."

Dom wasn't sure he cared for this new infatuation that Vince was developing for his little sister. He had nothing against the thought of the two of them together if that's what Mia wanted, but he really doubted that his sister would ever return those kinds of feelings from Vince and it could only lead to trouble.

Dom glanced around for Letty, but she was in the kitchen helping Mia put together the rest of the food for the cookout. Usually she wouldn't be caught dead doing 'women's work', but ever since she'd awakened when Dom returned home in the early hours of the morning a few days ago, she'd steered a wide course around him. Letty always went looking to Mia for support when she felt she'd been wronged by Dom, not that Dom thought Letty would spill particulars to his sister. Mia always gave her a shoulder to 'cry' on because Letty didn't have any other female friends, but she never took sides.

Mentally, Mia could run circles around the lot of them in her sleep, even Jesse. While Jesse had that scary genius level IQ, for the most part he was totally clueless as to how to use it if it didn't have an engine. Mia was going to college next year. She'd already expressed an interest, and while she was smart enough to get scholarships, there was so much more she was going to need. Dom was going to make sure that nothing stood in her way, no matter what it took.

This Leon. Jesse said he was good with cars. He was fresh out of two years in the army where he'd worked in the motor pool. According to Jesse, Leon had quite a bit of money saved up and wasn't particularly looking for a job, so maybe he'd be willing to get in on the ground floor of a garage that specialized in modifying and caring for high end, high performance cars and settle for a share of the profits instead of a regular salary. At least at first. It was worth a thought. He'd look the guy over and see what the score was. If he liked him, he’d think about asking him in.

"I still don't like it," Vince grumbled.

"Let it go, Vince!" Dom ordered. "This guy means a lot to Jesse, you can tell that by the way he talks about him. Don't do anything that's going to hurt Jesse and push him away."

"Jesse wouldn't leave us!" Vince protested.

"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure of that. He's known Leon a hell of a lot longer than he's known us. Don't push it!"

Just then they could hear the loud purr of a large engine pulling to the curb out front. The slamming of doors and Jesse's distinctive voice raised in excitement quickly followed. They could also hear the murmur of a deeper voice speaking in calmer tones.  
Dom turned back to Vince, catching a scowl on his scruffy, bearded face. "I mean it, Vince," he warned, pointing at his friend. "You get that jealous nature of yours under control and keep your unfounded and needless suspicions to yourself."

Vince sniffed hard, glaring back at Dom for a few seconds before dropping his eyes, his scowl turning into a grimace of reluctant acceptance, at least for the moment.

Dom turned away from Vince just in time to see Jesse come around the corner of the house. He wasn't so much walking as hopping...backwards. With his hunch-shouldered, loose-legged gate, he reminded Dom of nothing so much as a kind of goofy stork. But a very happy one. His face was more animated, his voice more excited, than Dom could ever remember witnessing, even around cars.

Dom gave Vince a sideways glance that said 'See, what did I tell you?' Vince just responded with another sniff and an irritable shrug.

"Jesse! Where you been? Food's almost ready," Dom called.

Jesse whirled around, almost overbalancing himself with his quick, jerky movements and extremely large feet. He saw Dom and Vince and flashed them a high wattage smile. So different from the withdrawn, self-conscious Jesse that had fallen in with them almost two years ago.

"Sorry, Dominic! Leon wanted to stop and get something to bring with us." He held up the two sweating six packs of Coronas that had been dangling at his sides. "I told him you had everything covered, but he insisted."

Just then, the other man came around the corner. His face was turned towards Jesse, who had fallen back slightly to walk beside him, and Dom felt a small tickling of uncertainty.

"Dom, Vince! This is Leon..."

The rest of Jesse's words faded into the background the second the other man turned to face him. Dom could feel his face freeze into a mask of disbelief. What the fuck!? Was this some kind of joke? How'd this asshole figured out who he was? Had he been scouting out the house and seen Dom leave that night? Had he followed him and somehow managed to engineer their little encounter? But just as Dom was rapidly coming to the conclusion that all of that was just too much to swallow and that not even Machiavelli could have foreseen the events unfolding the way they had that night and taken advantage of them. Dom realized that the driver of the Barracuda...Leon, had a thunderstruck and horrified expression on his face that matched his own. Quickly schooling his features into pleasant neutrality, Dom's look cautioned Leon to do the same.

"Dominic?"

Dom's quick glance told him that the hesitant worry that he heard in Jesse's voice was reflected in his face.

"Is something wrong?"

Dom's smile was quick and reassuring. "Nah, I just thought I recognized Leon for a minute, but since he's been gone for two years that's not really possible."

Jesse's face cleared up and the smile returned. "Leon's got a cousin that hangs around the races sometimes. They look kinda alike."

"That must be it," Dom said smoothly, holding his hand out to Leon. "Good to meetcha. Jesse talks about you all the time."

Holding his eyes, Leon slowly reached out and clasped Dom's hand in a firm grip. "Yeah, thanks for having me...over." The pause was almost imperceptible. There was that impish sense of humor that Dom had noticed that night. "I've heard a lot about you, too. Every phone call home, every email, it was 'Dom said this', or 'Dom did that'. I thought maybe we were going to have to apply to the Pope for canonization." Definitely humor.

'Oh, yeah,' Dom thought, his tension ebbing away, 'this could work.' He watched as Leon even seemed to win over the reluctant Vince. Leon didn't flatter or schmooze, he just had an easy-going way about him that in turn put others at ease. The newcomer had the same effect on Mia and Letty. During the course of the meal, Dom watched with amusement as Leon gently fended off Mia's unexpected and unprecedented interest in him. Dom wasn't quite sure how he accomplished it, but in the space of an hour or so, Leon managed to turn her burgeoning crush into a sisterly tolerance, and in the process smooth Vince's ruffled feathers. It seemed that Leon was a natural peacemaker.

Once or twice, Dom caught the look of calculation in Leon's eyes as he glanced back and forth between Letty and himself. Dom could see that Leon was trying to work out the relationship. They were obviously together, but even though she had thawed a little toward Dom, Letty was still keeping her distance. During one such foray into speculation, Dom and Leon's eyes met and held for a moment. Dom answered Leon's unasked question with an impassive gaze. Leon's response was a slight, upward quirk of his lips.

Later, when the food had been cleared, Dom managed to have a quiet talk with Leon, away from the others. Vince and Jesse were playing a game of one on one, and Mia and Letty were sitting on the sidelines, kibitzing and jeering. Dom knew that the others had cleared the way for Dom and Leon to have 'The Talk'. Dom could tell that Leon knew the score and was more than willing to go along with the game. He kept answering Jesse's anxious looks with reassuring smiles.

The more they talked, the more comfortable Dom became with Leon. Mostly they spoke of Jesse. In particular, Leon expressed his gratitude that Dom had taken the boy under his wing in his absence.

"It wasn't really my choice to join the army," Leon admitted ruefully. "I had a few brushes with the law when I was a kid. The last time it was serious, and I wasn't a juvie anymore. But the judge was OK. She gave me the choice of some serious jail time or a minimum one year stint in the army and no record if I came out of it with my nose clean. She gave me a night in lock-up to think about it. But I'll tell you, it wasn't so much me as the fact that I was managing to pull Jesse down the toilet with me that made up my mind for me. After basic, when they realized I had a thing for engines, they put me in the motor pool. It didn't take me long to realize that I could really begin to learn something about engines besides how to make them go faster. I even re-upped. It's cliché as hell, but the army did make a man out of me. It forced me to finally grow up. As much as I hated leaving Jesse with only his mother for support, I figured that toward the end, I was more of a minus than a plus in his life. Have you met Jesse's mom?" At Dom's hesitant nod, Leon continued. "She ain't a bad mom. She's had a hard life, is all. And if she leans a little too heavily on the bottle at times, at least she's tried to make a good home for him, and she never ran out on him."

When his voice faded away, Dom saw Leon's eyes take on a far-away look for a moment. But only for a moment. When he looked back to see Dom watching him, a solemn expression on his face, he smirked. "Unresolved teen angst," Leon assured him in a self-mocking tone.

After that, the conversation drifted into less emotional areas. Dom told Leon about his plans to open his own garage and how he was going to specialize it. Leon seemed impressed and interested, but they were both casual and non-committal about the subject. They could both feel that the other was skirting around asking more pointed questions about future business plans. There was plenty of time to wait and see.

After a time, the ball game slowly dwindled to a halt, both participants becoming too drunk to do more than continually miss the hoop and trip each other up, whether accidentally or intentionally. They finally lost their audience when Mia and Letty drifted over to join Dom and Leon, dragging over lawn chairs to sit and talk. It didn't take long for Vince and Jesse to join them. Vince pulled up another chair, pointedly beside Mia, giving Leon a look of warning. Vince didn't see the way Mia rolled her eyes in exasperation. Jesse ignored the chairs and threw himself down onto the ground, leaning back against Leon's chair, his shoulder and arm nudging against the other man's leg. Leon threw a fond, distracted smile at the back of Jesse's head, never breaking the thread of his conversation with Dom. After that, talk became more general, mostly about cars and racing.

Dusk began to settle and the talk became more of an attempt to play catch-up. Jesse was obviously very familiar with Leon 'the story teller'. He continually prodded Leon with 'tell them about the time', and 'remember when'. Leon did have a very colorful way of phrasing things. He had them laughing their asses off at one point about a colonel and one of the motor pool jeeps that came back with bits of women's underwear stuffed between and under the seats, smelling of cheap scotch and even cheaper perfume.

Leon carefully drained the last of his Corona then casually nudged Jesse with his leg. "Hey man, where's the john? My kidneys are floating."

Before Jesse could lever himself unsteadily to his feet, Dom waved him back down. "I'll show him. I'm next anyway."

"Hey Dom! Bring another round when you come back, will ya?" Vince hollered to Dom's retreating back. Dom raised his hand in acknowledgment without turning around as Leon trailed him silently into the house and up the stairs.

Dom stopped in the hallway upstairs, arms crossed, leaning a shoulder on the wall opposite an open door and, gesturing into the bathroom with a small nod of his head. Instead of going in, Leon stopped and eyed Dom for a moment. They could both feel the tension beginning to build between them now that the others weren't around to run interference. It wasn't anything earth shattering, kind of comfortable, really.

"Letty's a fox," Leon finally said, eyeing Dom in speculation.

Dom declined to answer for a few suspended moments, simply staring impassively at the other man. Then Dom came to a decision.

"Yeah, she is that." He waited a couple of beats. "And I love her a lot." His voice was very matter-of-fact, 'that's the way it is, take it or leave it. '.

Before Dom had even finished, Leon was nodding as if in agreement. "That's cool. So..." he hesitated, "we OK?"

"I got no problems with it," Dom answered evenly. "How about you?"

"I'm cool," Leon said easily. "I do have one question though."

Dom pushed away from the wall and took a step closer to the other man, his arms still crossed, his face impassive. As easy as he felt with this man, that still didn't give him the right to pry into the 'why's and 'wherefores' of Dom's actions. "And that be?"

Leon replied with a quirk of his lips and a cocked up eyebrow. "Does this mean it ain't gonna happen again?"

Dom stared at the other man for a moment, expressionless, before answering. "That wouldn't exactly be smart, would it?"

"Probably not," conceded Leon.

Dom nodded at the open bathroom door. "Thought you were in a hurry."

Leon gestured. "You go ahead."

Dom stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before stepping into the bathroom. Just before the door clicked shut he heard a low murmur, "I can wait."

 

end


End file.
